Engel calls for support against TB

Representative Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) recently wrote an editorial calling for bipartisan support in the fight against tuberculosis.

The article, which originally appeared in the nonprofit group PSI's magazine Impact, says that U.S. leadership is crucial to build on recent progress made against the illness, according to TheHill.com.

Engel notes that he has helped push the U.S. government to consistently renew its commitment to end TB, especially in the developing world where the Millennium Development Goal of reversing the disease has not been met.

"I was proud to support the bipartisan Lantos-Hyde Global HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Act of 2008, which included a historic U.S. commitment to global TB control through its support for the Global Plan to Stop TB. I also co-sponsored the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act of 2008, which renewed efforts to eliminate the disease in the U.S.," Engel said, TheHill.com reports. "This is why I am proud to be a co-chairman of the TB Elimination Caucus with Representatives Gene Green of Texas and Don Young of Alaska. I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner through the TB Elimination Caucus to build on the progress we have made against TB both in the U.S. and globally."